02208nas a2200313   4500000000100000008004100001260000900042653003200051653001100083653002400094653001200118653002500130653002500155653001600180653001400196653002500210653001500235653002600250653001200276100001300288700001500301700001600316700001200332245012200344300001100466490000700477520139600484022001401880       1990                            d  c199010aBlood Bactericidal Activity10aHumans10aIn Vitro Techniques10aleprosy10aLeprosy, lepromatous10aLeprosy, Tuberculoid10aMacrophages10aMonocytes10aMycobacterium leprae10aPhagocytes10aStaphylococcus aureus10aTuftsin1 aIyer R R1 aPrasad H K1 aBhutani L K1 aRao D N00aEffect of tuftsin stimulation on the microbicidal activity exerted by blood monocyte-macrophages of leprosy patients.  a859-690 v123 a<p>The ability of blood monocyte/macrophages from normal donors, tuberculoid leprosy (BT/TT) and lepromatous leprosy (BL/LL) patients to exert enhanced microbicidal activity was assayed after stimulating with 0.8 microM tuftsin, as a function of the duration of cultures in vitro. Normal and BT/TT macrophage cultures showed a statistically significant increase in microbicidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus at all ages of culture (6 h to 14 days), though the overall magnitude of the enhancement shows a decrease with increasing culture age in the same populations. However, 14-day old BL/LL macrophage cultures were unable to undergo tuftsin-mediated stimulation of microbicidal activity against S. aureus and even, fresh 6 h-old cultures exhibited a tuftsin-stimulated response profile similar to 14-day old normal and BT/TT cultures. Also, 7 and 14-day cultures of normal, BT/TT and BL/LL macrophages were unable to inhibit/kill intracellular Mycobacterium leprae after a single stimulation with 0.8 microM tuftsin. However, serial, daily stimulation with 0.8 microM tuftsin resulted in 77-140% inhibition of 3H-thymidine uptake by the 12th day of cultures in vitro in the three groups. These results suggest that BL/LL macrophages exhibit a premature inability to undergo tuftsin stimulated microbicidal activity, which may possibly be reversed by serial dosage of tuftsin.</p>  a0192-0561